Alaska Baseball League cancels upcoming summer season

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Baseball League has canceled its summer season, as the future of sports worldwide remains uncertain during the coronavirus pandemic.

“To operate this summer without the ability to keep all involved safe from exposure to the COVID-19 virus, we as a league have decided not to proceed this summer,” the league website reads.

The summer league season was scheduled to begin on June 29.

The five-team league is made up of college players from mostly the Lower 48 but also from places as far away as Taiwan. If competition resumed on time, travel and housing would have been a logistical challenge during the seven weeks of play, KTVA-TV reported.

The Mat-Su Miners proposed a short season in July and other teams have also expressed their desire to compete, officials said. League teams are expected to contact state and local governments about the plan.

Even Major League Baseball is trying to formulate a plan to get its players back on the field.

The Alaska Baseball League was founded in 1969 with five teams: the Anchorage Bucs, Anchorage Glacier Pilots, Chugiak Chinooks, Mat-Su Miners and Peninsula Oilers.